Civil

Lok Sabha passes Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023

03.08.2023

In order to protect right of individuals and their digital personal data, Lok Sabha passes Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023. The Bill protects digital personal data (that is, the data by which a person may be identified) by providing for the following:

a. The obligations of Data Fiduciaries (that is, persons, companies and government entities who process data) for data processing (that is, collection, storage or any other operation on personal data);

b. The rights and duties of Data Principals (that is, the person to whom the data relates); and

c. Financial penalties for breach of rights, duties and obligations.

The Bill also seeks to achieve ease of Living and the Ease of Doing Business. For enforcing his/her rights, an affected Data Principal may approach the Data Fiduciary in the first instance. In case he/she is not satisfied, he/she can complain against the Data Fiduciary to the Data Protection Board in a hassle-free manner. The Bill provides for following obligations on the data fiduciary:

a. To have security safeguards to prevent personal data breach;

b. To intimate personal data breaches to the affected Data Principal and the Data Protection Board;

c. To erase personal data when it is no longer needed for the specified purpose;

d. To erase personal data upon withdrawal of consent;

e. To have in place grievance redressal system and an officer to respond to queries from Data Principals; and

f. To fulfill certain additional obligations in respect of Data Fiduciaries notified as Significant Data Fiduciaries, such as appointing a data auditor and conducting periodic Data Protection Impact Assessment to ensure higher degree of data protection.

The Bill safeguards the personal data of children also. The Bill allows a Data Fiduciary to process the personal data of children only with parental consent. The Bill does not permit processing which is detrimental to well-being of children or involves their tracking, behavioural monitoring or targeted advertising.

Tags : Personal Data Bill Protection

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